Tara Jaye Frank

Tara Jaye Frank is an equity strategist who has advised and educated thousands of Fortune 500 executives across multiple industries on how to create an equitable workplace. The author of two books, her latest is: The Waymakers: Clearing the Path to Workplace Equity with Competence and Confidence which launches May, 2022. Before founding her culture and leadership consultancy, Frank spent 21 years at Hallmark Cards, where she served in multiple roles, including vice president of multicultural strategy and corporate culture advisor to the president. Tara’s work, fueled by a deep belief in the creative power and potential of everyone, is focused on equity and building bridges between people, ideas and opportunity.   Writing this article reinforced my certainty that the time to make meaningful progress in more diverse workforces, more equitable outcomes for employees and more inclusive workplace cultures is NOW. For decades, there has been no shortage of activity from good intentions and aspirations—yet no significant advancement. Pre-pandemic, the blame for this lack of progress was too little time and too few resources. Now, two years in, companies are facing more complex business challenges—from rethinking value propositions and reinventing supply chains, to shifting to remote or hybrid work. Add in the employees’ experience with social strife and stress, and galvanizing people to do something new is even harder. How can we possibly prioritize DEI now? Reality begs the question—how can we afford not to?   The journey to creating an equitable workplace is beyond a vision, a metric or a box-checking exercise—it is the lifeblood of our future.

Tara Jaye Frank is an equity strategist who has advised and educated thousands of Fortune 500 executives across multiple industries on how to create an equitable workplace. The author of two books, her latest is: The Waymakers: Clearing the Path to Workplace Equity with Competence and Confidence which launches May, 2022. Before founding her culture and leadership consultancy, Frank spent 21 years at Hallmark Cards, where she served in multiple roles, including vice president of multicultural strategy and corporate culture advisor to the president. Tara’s work, fueled by a deep belief in the creative power and potential of everyone, is focused on equity and building bridges between people, ideas and opportunity.

Writing this article reinforced my certainty that the time to make meaningful progress in more diverse workforces, more equitable outcomes for employees and more inclusive workplace cultures is NOW. For decades, there has been no shortage of activity from good intentions and aspirations—yet no significant advancement. Pre-pandemic, the blame for this lack of progress was too little time and too few resources. Now, two years in, companies are facing more complex business challenges—from rethinking value propositions and reinventing supply chains, to shifting to remote or hybrid work. Add in the employees’ experience with social strife and stress, and galvanizing people to do something new is even harder. How can we possibly prioritize DEI now? Reality begs the question—how can we afford not to?

The journey to creating an equitable workplace is beyond a vision, a metric or a box-checking exercise—it is the lifeblood of our future.